Somewhere in the 13 Colonies...

Myself and Andy T had a long-planned meet up today. We were deciding between either CWC2 or Maurice and decided to go for the latter as it would be an opportunity for me to bring out the American War of Independence US forces that I've been painting up as a side project and for Andy to run out his freshly painted 42nd Highland Regiment, along with some Hessians and regular British line infantry. We kept things simple and went for a Rugged set up from the battlefield cards. 

The forces of King George on the left, the combined militias, Continental Infantry and both sides had a smattering of allied forces of various Iroquois irregulars. 

Rebel forces

6 Regular Infantry (including 1 Conscript quality and 2 upgraded to Elite)

2 Regular Cavalry

4 Guns

1 Irregular Infantry (allied Native Americans)

2 Notables were drawn at random prior to the game. Both were of a social rank that required them to be attached to the cavalry. National Advantages were also purchased including Lethal Volleys (I figure the legends of the Minutemen and being born with a rifle in one hand and powder horn in t'other should give them accurate fire) and Cadence- the looser files and discipline could make them more nimble? 

Andy started off with most of his forces in column and so marched across the battlefield with a large combined force of infantry. The Americans were more cautious and started in line. Both sides had picked Cadence as a National Advantage, so manoeuvre was reasonably brisk. Deployment is key in Maurice, Andy's guns found themselves with few targets and due to being distracted by trying to keep my own momentum going, 2 of my four guns never fired a shot in anger. 

The 2nd New Hampshire regiment, one of 2 that were upgraded to Elite and led a charmed life for most of the battle. 

The battle lines approach each other. 

The Native Americans allied to the British. They took up position on the hill to the British right but could not stand up to sustained volleys from the American regular troops and soon melted away. 

The battle continued with volleys being exchanged between the lines of troops in the centre. On the far right of the US flank their light dragoons took off on a wide flanking march that forced the Highlanders and 2 other line regiments to ignore the main firefight in the centre and prepare for a possible flank charge. As the battle went on the British cavalry attempted a charge at the American lines but found that cavalry don't like to charge formed Infantry much and so made no headway. 

The 3 British regiments that needed to rapidly redeploy can be seen in the centre and right of the picture. The British cavalry charged the infantry then decided to turn round to face the American dragoons who had overrun the 2 British guns. 

The American forces shook out their lines and forced a cavalry regiment to retreat with effective volley fire. 

The American cavalry had charged down the British artillery and were ready to take on the remaining British cavalry when the British Army Morale was reduced to 0 and so the Victory Step was taken. 

The same situation, looking along the US lines. The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry are in the foreground. 

All in all, a most satisfactory battle. As it was a one off, there was no post battle work to do with Epic Points, Notables etc, that is a very entertaining part of the Maurice ruleset. 

On an unrelated note, I am determined to finish the Khemed invasion campaign in 2023, although there are only a few weekends left between now and the end of the year that don't have family plans and commitments. Andy T brought some Zvezda modern Soviet infantry in 1/72 scale that he was looking to unload. These will form the core of some Khemed regulars for some scaled up games, using Force on Force. This will be my winter painting and gaming project.